Rother District Council

The Council has a public question time scheme which allows the public to put questions to the appropriate member of Cabinet at full Council meetings subject to details of the question being submitted in writing five clear working days before the meeting.

Below are the guidelines for submitting a question for public question time. If you would like to download the guidelines for public question time please click on the PDF document on the right (Adobe Acrobat required).

If you would like to submit a question, please go to the bottom of this page.

GUIDELINES

1. General. Anyone who works or resides in Rother District may ask questions of members of the Executive at ordinary meetings of the Council. A period of up to 30 minutes at the beginning of each meeting shall be allowed for questions to be put.

2. Order of questions. Questions will be asked in the order in which notice of them was received, except that the Chairman may group together similar questions.

3. Notice of questions. A question may only be asked if notice has been given by delivering it in writing or by electronic mail to the Chief Executive no later than 5 clear working days before the day of the meeting. Each question must give the name and address of the questioner and must specify the member of the Executive either by name or portfolio to whom it is to be put. An electronic copy of the form and these notes are available on the Council's website at www.rother.gov.uk

4. Number of questions. At any one meeting no person may submit more than one question and no more than one such question may be asked on behalf of one organisation.

5. Scope of questions. The Chief Executive may reject a question if it:

• is not about a matter for which the local authority has a responsibility or which affects the District;
• is defamatory, frivolous or offensive;
• is substantially the same as a question which has been put at a meeting of the Council in the past six months;
• requires the disclosure of confidential or exempt information;
• relates to an individual/group business or the questioner's own particular circumstances;
• relates to a matter which is the subject of legal or enforcement proceedings or an appeal to a tribunal or to a Government Minister or an investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman;
• relates to the personal circumstances or conduct of any Officer and Councillor or conditions of service of employees;
• relates to the activities and aims of a political party or organisation;
• relates to individual planning applications; or
• is a statement and not a genuine enquiry.

In addition the Chairman may rule that a question shall not be answered because:

• The preparation of the answer would require the expenditure of a disproportionate amount of time, money or effort.

The ruling of the Chairman of the Council as advised by the Chief Executive in the above matter shall be final.

6. Record of questions. The Chief Executive will enter each question in a book open to public inspection and will immediately send a copy of the question to the member of the Executive to whom it is to be put. Rejected questions will include reasons for rejection. Copies of all questions will be circulated to all members and will be made available to the public attending the meeting. The minutes of the meeting will record the details of the questions that have been asked (including any supplementary questions) and by whom, together with the answers given.

7. Asking the question at the meeting. Although questioners will be required to identify themselves at the meeting, they will not need to ask their questions which will have been circulated before the start of the meeting. A questioner who has submitted a written question may ask the Chairman to put the question on their behalf. The Chairman may ask the question on the questioner's behalf, indicate that a written reply will be given or decide, in the absence of the questioner, that the question will not be dealt with.

8. Supplementary question. A questioner who has put a question in person may also put one supplementary question without notice to the member of the Executive who has replied to his or her original question. A supplementary question must relate to the answer given. The Chairman may reject a supplementary question on any of the grounds in 5 above.

9. Written answers. Any question which cannot be dealt with during public question time, either because of lack of time or because of the non-attendance of the member of the Executive to whom it was to be put, will be dealt with by a written answer.

10. Reference of question to the Executive or a Committee. Unless the Chairman decides otherwise, no discussion will take place on any question, but any member may move that a matter raised by a question be referred to the executive or the appropriate committee or sub-committee. Once seconded, such a motion will be voted on without discussion.

SUBMITTING A QUESTION

If you would like to submit a question for the council's public question time, you can either fill out the online form or download the (PDF) form and return it in the post. The downloadable form is in Adobe Acrobat format.

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